On January
4, the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics released its December
employment figures, causing much rejoicing in America. A total of 312,000 new
jobs were created, far surpassing the estimated 176,000 jobs. Wages were found
to have grown 3.2 percent over the same time last year, again beating the 3
percent increase economists predicted. That year-over-year jump tied with
October for the best month since April 2009.

This was positive news for the U.S. economy, coming amid growing
concerns of a global recession setting in. After a week of terrible losses, new
life surged into the stock markets. Many declared that the U.S. could push
aside fears of a recession.

But while the job numbers were very favorable, they are only one
part of the economic picture. Add a few more pieces to the puzzle, and the real
picture of America’s economy appears.

A Few More Puzzle Pieces

Here is the first piece: One underreported fact from the December
job report was who is
being hired. The majority were workers 55 years and older. In contrast, the
number of people in the prime age group (ages 25-54) decreased by 11,000. This
says a lot about America’s financial situation. More and more Americans of
retirement age are returning to the workforce, most likely because they can’t
afford to retire. This also explains why wages increased more than expected.

Those of retirement age lack sufficient savings for retirement,
and younger Americans are not saving for retirement. Data released last year by
the Federal Reserve found that 4 in 10 adults couldn’t cover an unexpected
expense of $400, and would have to go into debt or sell something to cover the
cost. While this is an improvement from 2013, when 50 percent of adults
couldn’t spare $400, it still shows how unprepared people are for even a small
financial hardship. The most recent study on the issue found that 78 percent of
Americans live paycheck to paycheck, up from 75 percent the previous year.

Here is the next puzzle piece: Not only are Americans without
savings, they are maxed out on debts they cannot pay. The same Federal Reserve
report found that more than one fifth of adults are unable to fully pay all
their current month’s bills, which means they are stuck in an ever worsening
debt trap. Consumer debt in the U.S. continues to smash records. Credit card
debt, along with student and auto loans, are at all-time highs.

This is a problem from the personal level all the way to the
federal level. In 2018 the U.S. government added an additional $1 trillion to
the national debt, bringing the total to nearly $22 trillion.

This has some people worried, like Federal Reserve Chairman
Jerome Powell, who said the government will soon have “no choice” but to face
this issue. But most, including President Donald Trump, seem unconcerned. On
January 8, he tweeted that he longed for interest rates to return to zero
percent so he could have something to “play with,” like the last administration
had, implying that he would add even more to the debt.

House Democrats also appear unconcerned with reining in
spending. Now that they control the House, one of the first things they did was
vote to revive the “Gephardt Rule.” This rule makes debt-ceiling increases
automatic each time Congress passes a budget that would blow through the debt
limit. But they have made the rule even worse.

As Conservative
Review explained, “Obviously, Republicans control the Senate and are
unlikely to cooperate with a Democrat-passed budget resolution from the House,
so any Democrat budget will not become law under a concurrent resolution. To
that end, for the first time in congressional history, Democrats are deeming
just the House-passed resolution (without the Senate) as if the debt ceiling
law was suspended for that chamber, thereby shielding their members from taking
a separate vote” (January 3).

Thus, whatever budget the House approves can exceed the debt
limit. It doesn’t need the Senate’s approval. With the new rules, the
government need not worry about a balanced budget or having to fight to raise
the debt ceiling to cover ballooning expenditures. There’s nothing to hold the
government accountable for its spending. It can run up the debt as much as it
wants.

Snapshots From Around the Globe

When you put these pieces together, a clearer picture emerges.
Yes, jobs are being created, but that in itself doesn’t prove the nation’s
financial soundness. What gets reported in the news is just a veneer of
prosperity covering up a panoply of financial problems. The majority of
Americans are unprepared for even a small economic crisis. The federal
government isn’t ready either. The reality is that America’s economic dominance
is waning, and quickly.

Consider
these stories, all of which broke in the second week of January:

A
study by the Standard Chartered Bank said that China is likely to become the
world’s biggest economy sometime next year, surpassing the U.S. China is
already the largest economy by some measures, but now it is ready to
surpass the U.S. in all parameters. By 2030, it expects America to fall to
third, with India hurdling into second place.

The Bank of England’s governor,
Mark Carney, shook the financial world by stating that the U.S. dollar’s
status as the world’s reserve currency was about to change. He stated,
“[U]ltimately we will have reserve currencies other than the U.S. dollar.”
He pointed to the Chinese yuan as an alternative. While nations that could
be considered enemies of the U.S. have worked to discredit the dollar, it
is surprising for a U.S. ally to question its hegemony.

Russia,
which discloses financial data with a six-month lag, announced that in the
second quarter of 2018 it had dumped $101 billion in U.S. holdings,
exchanging it for euros and yuan. Fifteen percent of Russia’s total
holdings are now in Chinese yuan, up from 5 percent at the end of the
first quarter. This puts Russia’s yuan share at about 10 times the average
for global central banks. Its total holdings of the currency account for
about a quarter of the world’s reserves in yuan, according to
International Monetary Fund data.

At
the end of December, China increased its gold holdings for the first time
in two years, adding 1,853 metric tons. China is just the latest nation to
begin hoarding gold. Last year, Hungary increased its gold reserves by
1,000 percent, while Poland made its biggest gold purchase in over 20
years, raising its holdings to a 35-year high.

Add these pieces to the puzzle, and a more serious picture
emerges. The strength of the dollar is being questioned by America’s allies,
while hostile nations are pivoting to the yuan. Meanwhile, nations are hedging
their central banks with gold, a tangible asset. The U.S. dollar isn’t backed
by gold. So why would these nations increase their holdings unless the see a
need to return to the gold standard? The only reason for that would be if the
dollar collapsed.

Look at the Cause

While the markets celebrated the December jobs report, a much
bigger picture needs to be examined. America’s economy is not flourishing. In
fact, it is in decline and under assault.

What is the cause of all this economic trouble? Is it just poor
fiscal policies in Washington? Or are there deeper issues?

Historian Niall Ferguson
described the phenomenon of our irrational attitude toward living within our
means and rational thinking in this week’s Sunday Times, writing, “We no longer
live in a democracy. We live in an ‘emocracy,’ where emotions rather than
majorities rule and feelings matter more than reason. The stronger your
feelings—the better you are at working yourself into a fit of indignation—the
more influence you have.

Final Thoughts…

For
the past several months, the housing market has been in steep decline with
sales cratering in December by 10.3 percent-Housing prices are falling in many
areas of the country but lag (as they tend to do) far behind the more immediate
indicator of sales. The Fed's increasing interest rates have translated to
higher mortgage rates across the board. Without low interest rates corporate
buyers are leaving the market, resting the fate of housing on normal consumers
who clearly do not have the capital or credit.

Auto
sales have been dismal, posting declines through the end of 2018 into early
2019, with 2019 expected to be the worst year
overall. Once again, with rising interest rates,
major purchases have become less appealing to the average consumer.

Retail
sales have now posted the worst December numbers since 2005. Retail sales
are often presented by the mainstream media as the end all argument for
economic recovery. Yet they fail to mention the problem of consumer
credit, which has ballooned over the past several years to record highs. In our
unstable economic environment, low interest rates fuel debt, debt
fuels credit and credit
(instead of savings) fuels consumer purchases. Without low interest rates,
the entire house of cards comes tumbling down.

I
also find it interesting that while retail sales are crumbling, consumer debt
continues to rise. If consumers are taking on more debt, where is that
money going if not into purchases? My suspicion is that new debt is being
taken on in order to pay off old debts.

Gallup Poll-Dec ‘18

“Americans
were more likely to cite the government as the most important problem facing
the US than any other issue.”

One of five
Americans [19%] now say some aspect of the federal government is the top
problem facing the US – however, only 3% named gun control or guns!

When I was a
volunteer for the SBA and speaker and board member for the Council of Smaller
Enterprises [COSE] government [at all levels] was named as the number one
obstacle for entrepreneurs when starting a business.The United States continues to drop worldwide
in terms of free enterprise and thus job creation…New Zealand and even
Singapore is more competitive than America.

When Pres.
Obama was in office, Democrats created more job and business strangling regulation
than ever before which is why job creation during his administration was
weak.It has improved under Pres. Trump
due to his reduction of regulation. It can do even better!

“We have too many of our elected officials who have never been
responsible for profit and loss, never been entrepreneurs, never been anything
to do with understanding where a dollar really comes from.

>>Beijing has made primacy in the wireless industry a national
priority. It has taken a whole-of-government approach (including
policy, financial, and diplomatic initiatives) to achieve this geostrategic
priority for Beijing. The U.S. has started to take diplomatic steps to counter
this push. But more is needed – and quickly.

China
and the West are locked in a struggle for control of the future of
communications technology, the next generation internet, and the flow of
information.

The
next two weeks may well prove decisive in deciding who wins the future. The
Chinese know it and are acting with speed, decisiveness, and commitment. The
American government and American companies are far behind and just starting to
play catch up.

Our own laissez-faire tendencies and preferences are being
used to defeat us. If we don’t take decisive action soon, we will find that the
Chinese have occupied an overwhelming position in wireless on the geostrategic
map. We will find ourselves surrounded.

Here’s my idea for a new bill

Since term limits
never seems to gain any traction perhaps we should entertain the idea of zero
pay for elected officials after their third term in office…give them their
office, expenses, health insurance while in office and a living allowance only=much
like our Founding Fathers and see how many decide to remain in office.

Yours
for a more secure future,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man!’

P.S.A little note to the assumptive twit on
twitter who decided to insult me by writing that I sounded like I had a life of
privilege when starting my various businesses & had never experienced any
hard times…screw you!Every business I’ve
started was via the bootstrap method.Most were successful but not all.I was given the President’s Award for Entrepreneurship
and have been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine, Venture Magazine and 100s of
others while volunteering with the SBA & at Veteran’s groups [and others] teaching
them to how to launch their own small business!

Final Notes…

Contributors
and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes
and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content
would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together
on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

Free:Economics in One Lesson -
Something the ‘new’ Democrats should read!

Having
the Patriot Power Cell on-hand for emergencies keeps your essential electronics
up and running in case you need to call for help.

“The Cell is a workhorse of power — it’ll charge your phone
soup to nuts 3 to 8 times… I think of the Patriot Power Cell as “everyday
prepared.” Awesome for travel or avoiding inconveniences while saving your
bacon in an outage. It’s a MUST HAVE for your survival lineup."

Most of my readers already know the basics of emergency food
storage, but I also have quite a few readers who are just getting
started--people who have never used any food storage methods other than their
refrigerator. This guide is my attempt to help them get started, and it's also
a good refresher for more experienced preppers.

By the end of this guide, you will know the basics of food
storage so you can start stockpiling the right foods in the right places to
ensure your family has something to eat after a major disaster. You will also
know a little about the most common food storage methods, and you'll be able to
avoid mistakes that could put your food supply in jeopardy. Remember, this
isn't a race to see who can get the most food on the shelf. This is a
methodical, lifelong process--not something you can do in one weekend...

Rosefield is a classic traditional cabin, which can be
built for less than $6,000. The
cabin is open plan, which has the advantage of making it far easier, cheaper
and quicker to build than more intricate cabins with separate rooms. This
particular plan also includes a detailed cabin assembly diagram and
step-by-step instructions which includes a foundation guide.[282sf’]

Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Prepper Real Estate: How to Buy Land with Little or No Money
Saved

You probably have
considered buying acreage and thought it well out of your reach financially.
Well, that would put you in a boat with many others who think that owning raw
land is only for the rich. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Let’s talk
about how you can become a landowner with no money saved.

Still,
having a good piece of land sets you up with freedoms that most other people do
not have, particularly in a suburban sprawl.

Skill
Work

If
you are currently living in a tight-knit neighborhood in suburbia, doing things
like shooting arrows, making bow drill fires and building wilderness shelters
might bet you some strange looks. If you get into things like trapping, you
will likely get animal control called.

You
are also limited in how well you can get to know the natural world. Great wild
edibles like dandelion, wood sorrel, and common plantain are probably in your
yard but beyond that, you could struggle to get to know different species of
trees and wild edibles.

If
you have your own plot of wooded land, you can do most anything you like on it,
if it’s big enough. You can even manage it to have the plant and tree species
that you prefer for survival needs.

Leisure

Sometimes
its just nice to go take a camping trip. It doesn’t have to be about survival
skills or methods, it doesn’t have to be about anything but getting out and
enjoying nature. During peak camping season you might struggle to reserve a
campsite at the more popular locations.

This
won’t be the case if you have your own plot of land.

Bugout
Location

The
bugout is hardly about a bag or a location on its own. Its one of the most
misunderstood skills in all of prepping. A well thought-out and practiced
bugout plan is something that you should be very proud of. It takes a lot of
thought and a lot of work.

All
that said, one of the first things to consider is that bugout
location. Where is the goal? If you own land that means you are
going to have access to that location without question.

Bunker
Location

Though
the bunker has been synonymous with preppers the reality is that most of us
don’t have the money or the space to accommodate a bunker. Furthermore, many
preppers want no parts of going into a hole in the ground to escape the dangers
above.

Still,
if it’s a goal of yours and you have the means, having raw land is the best way
to bury a bunker and keep it a secret. It will be near impossible to keep OPSEC
in mind while burying one such bunker in your backyard!

Profits

By
going through the raw land buying process, you might find that you have a knack
for finding and buying properties for very little or even no money. This might
become a side income or a method of making all your income from buying land.

I
am sure you have never thought of yourself as a land merchant, but it can be a
great side income or even a new career!

The
year before I quit my job and started working freelance in the prepping and
survival niche, I was exploring becoming a realtor in raw land. As an
outdoorsman, it held a lot of appeal. I spent about 3 months really working
hard and learning as much as I could about the business. However, my first sale
went sideways, and I decided it might be better to wait for this career.

I
was working a full-time job and I started the deal in a hurry and used some
methods that the pros did not recommend. I didn’t follow the process and, well,
it didn’t work out in my favor. Through that journey, I learned about some
interesting ways that people make dirt cheap offers on raw land and walk away
with their own land or properties for resale.

To
get started you are going to need to understand what tax liens and tax deeds
are. So let’s start with that.

Tax
Liens

If
you don’t pay those horrendous property taxes that come each year, you can
incur a tax lien on your property.

A Tax Lien is the first major step
the IRS takes against individuals to collect back taxes. A Tax Lien gives the
IRS a legal claim to your property as security or payment for your tax debt. It
is used to protect the government’s interest in your assets. – www.irs.gov

Tax
Deeds

If
you decide to ignore the tax lien the government can take ownership of your
property for not paying those taxes that caused the lien.

A legal document that grants ownership of a property to a
government body when the property owner does not pay the taxes due on the
property. A tax deed gives the government the authority to sell the property to
collect the delinquent taxes and transfer the property to the purchaser. Such
sales are called “tax deed sales” and are usually held as auctions where the
minimum bid is the amount of back taxes and fees owed. – www.irs.gov

The
interesting thing about all this tax deed and tax lien business is that our
intrusive government will not only take your property if you don’t pay the
taxes on it, it will also make your financial woes public to everyone around
you.

Just
by contacting or visiting your local county treasury you will be able to get a
list of tax liens on properties in your area. You can do this for any area, as
well. While it might seem a little predatory, you will be able to sit down and
really get a grip on who is going to lose their property to the local
government.

If
capitalizing on another’s misfortune makes you a little queasy, let me give you
a little background on how many of these properties wind up in lien status and
beyond. Every day people die. We are facing a wave of retiring baby boomers and
that the aging population is leaving behind money and property.

Sometimes
those who inherit land don’t want it. They may live states away from the land
that was given to them. The last thing they want is an annual bill, and some
can’t even afford it! They would rather it just go away. This land is often
what gets eaten up by these tax deeds.

You can
play the middle man and get between the government and the property owner. This
comes down to present a cash offer to the owner for that land.

Your Tax Refund

About
this time every year, even Americans who don’t save a penny, get a little bump
in the finances. It comes in the form of a tax refund. This amount of money
varies for every person but with the new tax laws, most everyone should see
some sort of a return.

This is
how you make your cash offer for that raw land. This is the money you use to go
after that special piece of property that someone may just be trying to unload
anyway.

Imagine
having a burdensome piece of land that you want nothing to do with. Imagine you
are letting the taxes pile up and then someone comes along and offers you $500
bucks to take the burden from you. Maybe they owe $200 in back taxes so you
walk away with a property for $700! I know there are people who are gonna say:

“Even
with a tax return, I don’t have that kind of money!”

Well,
offer what you can for that land and maybe they will bite. The worst case
scenario is that you go into an offer with no land and you leave with no land.
At least you are back where you started.

Tax Deed Auctions

Another
great way to get the most out of that tax refund, if you don’t want to make an
offer directly to a landowner, is to attend local tax deed auctions.

When
the government takes possession of a person’s land, they don’t want to keep it.
The last thing they want to do is upkeep a piece of land and not collect taxes
on it. So their motivation is to find a new owner of that land. Move it to the
highest bidder and get it back on the books as taxable property.

They do
this with tax deed auctions. You can get a list of the properties that are
going to be auctioned from your local treasury. These auctions happen on
varying basis depending on the locality but you can take your tax refund and go
bid on some properties.

If you
go this route be sure you show up with a set of properties that you already
know, from the provided list, to assure you have clear goals and budgets for
bidding. You don’t want to come home broke with a new property either! So you
have to do some research and set hard limits on your purchase amount.

Researching your Land

Probably
the most important part of this whole process is the research you do before
contacting an owner or before attending an auction. You have to know what
you’re after or else you are just shooting in the dark. Don’t wind up thinking
you got a great deal and finding out you bought 5 acres of mosquito-infested
swampland abnormally high in radon.

Property
Type

If
you are in the market for true raw land you are going to be looking for
residential/agricultural land or just agricultural. These are the tracts of raw
land that you want to buy and will be listed among other types of properties
like residential and commercial.

Property
Size and Lines

While
the paper might say 15 acres you need to what the property lines look like.
What is the shape of the property? What if its 15 acres but its only 50 yards
wide. Just a pencil-shaped property that is very hard to take advantage of.

Some
properties have no road frontage either or access! I know that sounds crazy but
it’s true. You have to be aware of that or you might wind up owning one and
having to invest in an easement to even get to your property.

Flood
Zone

Is
your property in the flood plain? A very important and very simple question to
answer.

Location

Be
sure that your location matches up with your needs. While you might get a great
deal on a property that is 200 miles from your home, can you get there in an
emergency?

Owner

This
is one of the trickiest parts of the process and you might need to call the
city or county to get more information on a property. A property location is
not going to give you the address of a property owner. As we mentioned the
property could be in Virginia and the owner might live in California

However,
having a direct mailing address to them means you can send an offer for that
land.

Conclusion

A
piece of property gives you lots of options. Most preppers dream of having a
piece of land to call their own. Whether that be the beginnings of a homestead
or just a secure place to bugout is up to that person. I think we can all agree
that some land is better than no land.

If
you find that piece of land and you are closing a deal, remember, without a
deed you have nothing. Be sure that when money changes hands there is a deed
for that property present, or you trust that it’s coming to you. Without a deed
on that property, you don’t own anything.

Contracts
can be a big help when you are dealing with property owners. The state will
have the proper paperwork if you go the route of tax deeds but buying from
individuals will mean that you cover all your basis. Consult a realtor or
lawyer to be sure you don’t get taken advantage of.

I
hope you are inspired to use this information in this article to get your own
piece of heaven. Remember, there are few resources that cannot be reproduced.
Raw land is the most precious of them all.

Author’s
Bio

James
Walton is the host of the I AM Liberty Show (www.iamlibertyshow.com) a podcast about 21st-century freedom. He is a freelance writer in the prepping
and survival niche and likes to keep a healthy balance between prepping and
enjoying life.

NOTE:My wife and bought and sold several properties
over the years using creative financing methods which often included seller
financing or land-contract deals and lease-option which were very lucrative to
buyers in depressed areas in which we sold. I’m sure you can find examples of
contracts for such financing online.

Here’s my idea for a new bill

Since term limits
never seems to gain any traction perhaps we should entertain the idea of zero
pay for elected officials after their third term in office…give them their
office, expenses, health insurance while in office and a living allowance only=much
like our Founding Fathers and see how many decide to remain in office.

Yours
for a more secure future,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man!’

Final Notes…

Contributors
and subscribers enable the Poor Man Survivor to post 150+ free essays annually. It is for this reason they are Heroes
and Heroines of New Media. Without your financial support, the free content
would disappear for the simple reason that I cannot keep body and soul together
on my meager book sales & ecommerce alone.

As you plan your finances, don’t forget about
tax breaks. With the right approach, it’s possible to make the most of your
money by including tax planning in your financial picture. Here's how to find
out what tax benefits for individuals are available for you, and then use them
to keep more of your money.

As fraudsters get sneakier about stealing
personal data it's important that you protect your personal information. Enter
FICO’s latest innovation, the Family Ultimate 3B plan. With this plan, you can
stay up-to-date on credit data for your whole family.

People need to become more self-reliant,
not more dependent on government.

Having
the Patriot Power Cell on-hand for emergencies keeps your essential electronics
up and running in case you need to call for help.

“The Cell is a workhorse of power — it’ll charge your phone
soup to nuts 3 to 8 times… I think of the Patriot Power Cell as “everyday
prepared.” Awesome for travel or avoiding inconveniences while saving your
bacon in an outage. It’s a MUST HAVE for your survival lineup."